Jockey Chad Beckon remained under critical care at a Toronto hospital on Friday after being involved in a spill at Woodbine on Wednesday evening.

Beckon's agent, Tony Esposito, said the rider was still under heavy sedation but was breathing on his own after being taken off a respirator. Esposito added that a CAT scan scheduled for Thursday was canceled because of swelling in Beckon's brain caused by outer cranial bleeding.

Beckon also fractured his cheekbone, nose, and two vertebrae, but Esposito said there was no sign of spinal damage.

For the fourth time in the past seven years, Suffolk Downs has canceled the Massachusetts Handicap, the track's most prestigious race, citing economic conditions.

Track officials had not yet set a date for the race, but it was expected to be scheduled for the fall so that horsemen could use it as a prep for the Breeders' Cup. Last year, Breeders' Cup had also made the race one of its Win and You're In preps that guaranteed the winner a spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic. The race was a Grade 3 with a $500,000 purse last year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Spice Route, who has been on a steady diet of graded turf stakes since last September, will be strictly the horse to beat in Sunday's Grade 3 Singspiel at 1 1/2 miles on Woodbine's turf course.

That is, of course, if he stays in the race.

"He's doing great," said trainer Roger Attfield, who also has Musketier and Sligovitz in the six-horse field for the Singspiel. "But I might not run him; I might take him to the United Nations."

The Indiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association will meet on Tuesday to determine whether to take action against one of its directors who has been accused of arranging stall allocations for trainers at Hoosier Park in exchange for his support of legislation favored by the track, officials of the group said.

Randy Klopp, the president of the Indiana horsemen's association, said that evidence regarding the allegations will be presented at the Tuesday meeting, and that board members will then vote on whether to take action against the director, Larry Smallwood.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Daryl Ezra is comfortably settled back in his regular Fort Erie shed row, just inside the backstretch gate.

Ezra and his wife, Michelle, work hard to keep the row spotless while sprinkling it with an assortment of flowers to brighten up the scene.

Their 12-stall barn is off to a solid beginning, with a 37 percent win rate through the first six weeks of the Fort Erie meet. Ezra leads all trainers with 12 wins.

"We began preparing for this year by legging up our horses back in December," Ezra said.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Red Lead, who was the runner-up to Mythical Power in last month's Grade 3, $400,000 Lone Star Derby, is headed to the $250,000 Iowa Derby, said his trainer, Brandon Bridges. The horse is scheduled to ship from his Lone Star Park base to Prairie Meadows on Sunday.

The Iowa Derby, at 1 1/16 miles, will be run on Friday. Red Lead will be ridden by Cliff Berry, the leading rider at Lone Star. The race will be the horse's first since the Lone Star Derby on May 9.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Garry Cruise is hoping to kick-start his riding career by moving his tack to Hastings. Cruise, who arrived here last weekend, is off to a good beginning. He has already won a race, and he has finished in the money with six of his eight mounts.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Last fall, after a stakes win at Del Mar, Delta Storm gave owner Michael House and trainer Mike Mitchell a reason to be ambitious, and they started the gelding in the Grade 1 Ancient Title Stakes at Santa Anita.

This year, the same ideas have struck just before summertime.

Delta Storm won his 2009 debut in Thursday's $76,145 Robert Kerlan Memorial Handicap over six furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park, and Mitchell said the 8-year-old gelding will be pointed for the $300,000 Bing Crosby Handicap over six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 8.

MIAMI - Grand Cash will have less distance but likely more pace to work with when he tries to duplicate last month's last-to-first triumph in the Lord Juban Stakes in Sunday's $55,000 Donthelumbertrader for 3-year-olds on the grass.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Rocco D'Alimonte and Frank Annecchini have shared a long and productive history as business associates, friends, horseplayers, and horse owners.

On Sunday, D'Alimonte and Annecchini will be looking to add the most exciting chapter of all to their evolving story as the owners of Mr. Foricos Two U, who is in with a fighting chance as he makes his stakes debut in the 150th running of the $1 million Queen's Plate.